benfield



(NohModel.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1. J. BENFIELD.

SOFT TREAD HORSESHOE.

No. 543,976'. Patented Aug. 6, 1895.

/NVE/v TOR Flc a W/ TNES s E s K Mulan E 7/ J 2 Sheets-Sheet 2.

Patented Aug. 6, 1895.

dig' A QNo Model.)

` J. BBNFIELD.

SOFT TREAD HORSESHOE.

W/ TNESSES y of the ribs a2 india-rubber is or may be VPATENT Enron.

JOSEPH BEN FIELD, OF WALSALL, ENGLAND.

SOFT-TREAD HORSESHOE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 543,976, dated August 6, 1895.

Application led November 1S, 1894. Serial No. 528,675. (No model.)

To if/ZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOSEPH BENEIELD, a subject of Her Majesty the Queen of Great Britain and Ireland, residing at Walsall, in

the county of Stafford, England, have invented certain new and usefullmprovements in Shoes for Horses and otherDraft-Animals, of which the following is a specification.

This invention consists of the herein-described improvements in shoes for horses and other draft-animals, the object being to effectually prevent slipping.

I will describe my invention by referring to the accompanying drawings, on which- Figure l is an inverted plan of a horseshoe constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same shoe fixed to a horses hoof. Fig. 3 is a part-sectional front elevation of the same. Fig. 4 is an inverted plan, and Fig. 5 is a side elevation, of a slightly-modiiied vform of the said shoe; and Fig. 6 shows another arrangement of my invention.

My invention Yhas reference to shoes of that class which are made of channelsection metal--that is to say, the shoe has a groove on its under side running all around the same and two downwardly-projecting ribs,lone on each side of the shoe, the said groove commonly containing india-rubber, to improve the foothold and lessen the shook to the animals hoofs.

According to this invention I make the said downwardly-projecting ribs marked 0, 0.2 of the shoe serrated at the front and at the back of the shoe, so as to prevent slipping, the teeth at the front of the shoe being marked b and the teeth at the back marked b2, and in the groove o between these serrated portions fixed to prevent shock to the animals hoofthat is to say,'there is or may be a block of india-rubber d at the frontof the shoe between the serrated parts b of the ribs and two in each of the back parts of the shoe between the serrations b2. between the termination of the front serrated part b and the commencement of the back serrated parts b2, the side ribs 0' o2 are partly cut away, so as not to be in the way of striking the nail-heads when they are being driven in to-fix the shoe, these nails passing through holes e in the channel part between the front serrated portion b and the back serrated portion b2. TheV portions of the ribs a 0.2, between the front serrations b' and the back serrations b2, may either be plain, as in the shoe illustrated by Figs. 1, 2, and 3, or they may be serrated, as in the shoe shown byFigs. 4 and 5.

When applying my invention to those shoes which are adapted to be fixed to the hoof by spiked clips-such as f, (see Fig. 6)-instead of by nails, the serrations b b2 are or may be continued all round the shoe, as shown in Fig. 6, and the india-rubber is or may bev also continued all round the shoe in the said groove c.

MyV improved shoes above described can either be made of cast metal or by stamping or of rolled metal, as will be well understood.

It will be evident that my improved shoe y above described can be made and used either with or without the india-rubber pieces.

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

A horse shoe having flanges along its inner and outer edges, said flanges being reduced at certain points, both the flanges and the reduced portions being serrated, substantially as described.

Inwitness whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two witnesses. Y

JOSEPH BENFIELD. Witnesses:

HERBERT WHITEHoUsE, RICHARD ARTHUR BENoY.

At each side of the shoe, v 

